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A buddy and I went all three days. Friday was preview, with the auction on Saturday and Sunday. Estimates vary, but a consistent number we hear is around 12,000 people. Some say as many as 20,000....but i think that's pushing it. I would definitely say it's well over 10,000. There are so many stories I have from talking to people all over the nation. This was truly a once in a lifetime auction. I won't go into many more details than that, I'll let the pictures show the rest. I'm sure there are way better pics online....but this is what I took with my phone. If i find more interesting pics I took, I'll post them. ENJOY!!! CROWD PHOTOS.... 1958 Cameo.....$140,000!!!!! This is a more typical car condition there....BTW I absolutely fell in love with this car....not my typical style, but for some reason it really drew me in!!!! It's a 1960 Impala 4dr hard top. This is a "brand new" pickup... There was also alot of cars in the folowing condition, though that didn't stop peoples DEEP pockets!!! More "new cars"!!! More Cars....

So ... I have had a Wheel Horse C121 for about 2 years now. It has been very solid and capable. But over the last year I have gotten itchy to try another tractor. Something bigger and more exotic. So I started looking for a Case 444. The case looks cool with its large rear wheels and hydraulic drive. I looked through Craigslist for about 3 months and finally found a Case 444 (About 1982) that seamed to fit the bill. I purchased it and started fixing little stuff that needed attention. I got the tractor working in very workable condition. I have enjoyed the tractor but have decided to sell the Case 444 because it has NOT out-preformed the WH 121. My Thoughts on the Case 444 -The Case doesn't have grease fittings on the mower deck. The hydraulic drive seams strange and to hard to get used to. The tractor sits to big and is hard to get on/off. The mower deck does not have front rollers that follow the ground while mowing. Other than that the Case seams like an awesome machine. Plus it looks Bad @#$! My thoughts on the WH 121 -WH has rollers and grease fittings on deck. The 8 speed transmission is more solid and predictable than the Case 444 (also probably more reliable). The WH is smaller and just more user friendly for getting on/off. Both are easy to work on and parts seam easy to get for an affordable price. Don't get me wrong the Case 444 is a nice machine - it just doesn't fit my lifestyle as much as I thought it would. I am writing this review for anyone that might be looking to switch from WH to a Case 444. I have to say also that this forum is more fun than the Case forum.

It was my pleasure. It would be pretty pointless to have things like these and not let people enjoy them. Too bad we had so many stalls on her drive. I siphoned a little gas out of the tank and looked at it in a glass and see quite a bit of rust flecks in there. I think some of the bumps were causing a piece to block up a jet in the carb momentarily causing the engine to starve. I'll have to work on that soon. If your wife has an interest in this hobby you need to take advantage of that! This is your excuse to seek one of these out and park it in your garage! Steve

Lately it seems as if the ADD has kicked in quite heavily. Have had a tough time keeping focused on the 416 after I screwed the clear up on the fender pan. Yesterday Jeb and I decided to tear into the 400 and find out why it was blowing oil out from under the tins and then it stopped running completely last year with no spark. Well I tore the head off and found the head gasket leaking like a sieve in one spot. It scoured the head a bit but nothing major. Decarboned the piston and put the head in a vice today and hit it with the file until it was smooth and flat again. Glass beaded it and reinstalled it back on the engine. Cylinder walls still have some checkering left and theres no ring worn at the top either which was surprising. Put her all back together and cleaned the points and filled it with gas and she fired up like a champ. No more smoke and runs smoother. Hers a vid of Jeb driving it after and a few pics after I cleaned it tonight. I bought this lil guy as part of a lot of 4 with a bunch of parts and such. I originally had the intention of doing a 100% rest on her but after tonight I think we're going go with that patina look to her. Jeb and I washed her wish some purple power and a red Scotch-brite then I hit her with some Meguire's #5 to add some essential oils back into the red. I know it isn't supposed to have yellow wheels and I have been told that the seat cover I put on it has no place belonging on a Suburban but we like it. We did find it was orange at one time and the wheels are linen beige under the yellow but this is how she's gonna live for the future for now and he loves driving it. I put a belt guard on it that I got shafted on Ebay with. It was advertised as original and I was too naive to know it wasn't until I got it here. Such is life, I'm sure I will spend more than 50 bucks on something not real again before I retire from this hobby.

I finished this up just in time for the Jacksonville show this weekend. Some of you probably saw it there, but I thought I would share some photos of the project. It was/is a Radio dumping trailer. I wanted a cart to pair up with a Wheel Horse, and I liked the size and style of this one. it started off in decent shape other than the rear lip was rusted through. I wish I had taken more pictures during that part of the project. I cut the bad section off and then tried to curl some of the good part over to match the rest. The results were so-so, but after welding a 5/16" rod in to help reinforce it, and some more grinding and filling, it turned out decent. Fixing the lip was probably the worst part. The parts all cleaned up pretty easily. I didn't get too carried away trying to smooth out the inside because I do plan on using the cart some. I sprayed the inside with some spray-on bedliner stuff. Then I painted the rest of it with the Rustoleum Regal Red and Canvas White. Unloaded and headed into the show... In line with the rest... Despite the appearance that it could rain any minute, it hadn't yet when we got home from the show so we went out and picked our "Big Max" pumpkin. The cart and 854 did a fine job bringing in the crop!

Doesn't anyone have a picture of a 1054, looks like a big tractor with the hood, fenders and tall narrow ags, gets my vote....I think. All the rest are equal...... except the blackhoods, what the heck was that all about The '80's gave us shoulder pads, shell suits, leg warmers and blackhoods all good fun.

Myself I am a round hood fan but my favorite is the beginning with the smooth nose rj35..

I have disassembled several 1974 B-80's, as well as B-100's, C-120's and 160's, and there is no nut holding the steering wheel on. The wheel has a hub with a 3/4" hole that goes over the 3/4" shaft. A 1/4" roll pin goes through the hub and the shaft. There is no nut on the top of the steering shaft. The roll pin needs to be driven out, and the steering wheel pulled off the shaft. This task has proven to be one the three most difficult problems when disassembling a B/C series tractor, the other two being wheel hub removal, and hitch pin removal. And all three are as a result of rust. The B-80 steering wheel is especially difficult since it is covered with soft rubber or plastic that is easily damaged if placed in a press, of if heated. Personally, I don't see how e-tanking would work since the process only works on suraface rust by transferring ions from one surface to another. The rust that you are battling is captive between two surfaces that are hidden. I may get some argument on this one, but if anyone can prove that e-tanking broke the rust free, I'd like to know just how that works. In too many cases, I have had to cut the steering shaft with a sawzall and press the shaft out on a 20 ton press. A replacement steering shaft is a lot cheaper and more readily available than a good steering wheel. Good luck and let us know your results.

I made a lot of progress this weekend. Starting to look like a tractor again! Lots of pics to show progress. Front hitch/axle support installed. Probably going to change nuts to stainless. Lower steering installed, just need the right cotter pin to hold it in. Brake drum installed. Bolt & washer were still drying when the pic was taken. My new(to me) hoodstand going thru the process. It turned out quite nice. I couldn't get the bell crank to come off the lift lever so I just dealt with it. Here's the battery tray going thru the process. The paint was bubbled nice and came off quite easily. This one was much nicer than the first one I ran thru, so I decided to use this one instead. Now for the form starting to take shape, and I think it is looking AWESOME! I do know how to put some of this together blindfolded now. I installed some of the brake linkage before the dust cover and couldn't get it in without removing the brake bell crank and linkage again. Same thing happened with the PTO lever and battery tray. Guess I just didn't pay attention to how I got it apart. Other than that it went together quite nicely. I just had to run a tap in some of the holes in the frame to clear the paint that had gotten in there. Shifter plate is just sitting there to see how it looks. See for yourself, and comments welcome. Just a reminder pic of how it looked a month and a half ago!

I don't have any pics to post, but I think everyone else has taken care of that. I did have a great time and really enjoyed finally putting faces to names. It was great to meet you all and hope we get a chance to meet up again. Thanks for making me feel welcome. Next year I will surely bring my tractors.

Chicks always get to do the cool stuff. Steve didn't offer you a ride Martin??

I have been restoring my dad's 1962 552 Wheel Horse for almost the past two years now. Been a slow process but enjoying every stage of the rebuild. So far from this... to most recently this... Anyway, had a bit of trouble getting the lift lever/hood stand assembly disassembled. Soaked with PB Blaster for a long time. Still no results getting it apart. Figured that I needed to take it to a "professional" who had more powerful persuasion tools than what I had. Took it a local Cub Cadet dealer just a couple miles from my home. Once I mentioned it was off of an old Wheel Horse tractor, he said he wouldn't touch it... wouldn't even look at it. Well, that ended our conversation rather quickly. Took it then to a farm implement dealer, specifically Wertz Farm and Power Equipment located near Lineboro, Maryland which is about 30 miles from my house. Now this area is where I grew up as a child when my dad originally purchased the 552. The technician there took it immediately and got it apart within 30 minutes. Got to talking to the old guy and he said that he lived in the area all his life and has worked at Wertz's since about 1965. I told him I grew up near there also and started talking about how I acquired my dad's tractor just a couple years ago when I had not seen it for nearly 40 years. My uncle found it two years ago and gave it to me. Well, seems this guy knew my uncle and said my uncle lives in that house over there... and he pointed across the street. I honestly did not know that. Anyway, seems this guy also worked on my grandparents farm near there when he was a lot younger like way back in the '50's. Not knowing exactly where my dad bought this Wheel Horse tractor, I asked Fred if there were any Wheel Horse dealers in this area in the early '60's. He said that this company he worked for, Wertz Farm and Power Equipment, was once a Wheel Horse dealer when the company had their location in the town of Lineboro, Md. He smiled when I showed him pics of my RJ58 and 552 and said he really liked working on the old Kohler engines but didn't care much for the Techy's as they were generally hard to start. Although, Fred said he was pretty sure that they no longer had any purchase records from the old Wheel Horse tractor sales, I am now convinced that my dad bought my 552 tractor from Wertz in Lineboro which was just a few miles from my childhood home. That's my story from my little corner of the world and I'm sticking to it. So, back to my resto project, just got done painting the original rear wheels off of my 552 and a couple of front wheels for my RJ58.They actually came out looking like new... I was able to save the original rear tires from the 552... BF Goodrich Silvertown 6-12 turfs... There is some cracking on these tires, but they are generally in pretty good condition considering how bad the whole tractor looked when I got her a few years ago. Got new inner tubes for it and a bottle of that black tire paint from m.e. Miller Tire Co, so we'll give it a try and see how they come out.

Hi, Just acquired a Commando 8, has a Brigg's 8HP replacement pull start motor, and missing the belt shield. Rode it today, mowed a little, but lot's to be done and to learn here. I'm hooked! How hard is it to find a belt guard and return this to the original running gear? Are decals available? Aaron (Ohio).

I ran into a guy at the Jacksonville show whose son happens to be a customer of the company I work for. The son called me this morning and said he had a cart in his shed that I may be interested in. I stopped by his place after work and picked this up, even got to name my own price. It wasn't free but it was pretty darn cheap. The back lip is bent up a little and it has the usual dings in the bottom and it's been painted with a rattle can. I'll straighten it up the best I can, repaint it and use it to replace the Rubbermaid cart that I use in the yard.

Well, I got the new clutch plate. Took the old one off, it still had a lot of meat on it. But it was so glazed that it looked like metal. It was so shiny it reflected light. I will try to grind the glaze off later. The new one works great, got it adjusted, it works like a charm, I hit high heavy grass the mower deck sound doesn't change, but the sound from the engine sure does. It cuts like a beast.

Well it took a little while been busy with other stuff and I was also waiting on a roll of black vinyl so I could do the graphics before I did the finished photos.... So here they are.. There I think that will do it..

That's for sure, Martin. If I don't stop bringin stuff home I'm gonna need to set that canopy up in my back yard 'cause I'm outa space here. I went and looked at two Wheel Horses yesterday that another guy who stopped by our display area said he wanted to sell. They turned out to be verticle shafts so I left them where they were but it wasn't far from home so I wasn't out much.

Ok not rear view mirror but rear hatch last winter

Since you say there is a new coil we will assume for now that it is good and also assume that you have verified that 12 volts from the battery is getting to the coil when cranking the engine. What you need to do now is verify that the ignition module is working properly. Do this by connecting a voltmeter between the coil’s larger terminal and engine ground. Rotate the flywheel slowly and watch the volt meter change from 12 volts to a much lower voltage around 1 to 1.5 volts once for each revolution. Spark plugs can be removed to make turning the engine easier. Replace the module if you don't see this change.

Do you have a worn throttle shaft? That can mimick a lean setting by allowing air to be sucked into the mix.

Looks real nice, I just so happen to know where there is another one just like it in real nice shape....

I vote on the 1960's square hoods.

Welcome, not sure where in OH you are but I have a good running 8hp Kohler to fit in there, and the correct belt guard will be a little tough to find it has no indent on that one, only the commando 8, 857, and 867 will be correct off the top of my head.

It looks pristine and I'll just bet there isn't another original one like it. That trailer doesn't look like it was used either. What a find! How many do you suppose are left? That's probably one of the rarest Wheel Horses anywhere.

Leave the rims, Looks knarly!

It all started when Steve from O'Fallon IL (wh500special) turned up yesterday at the show with a senior and lever steer. as soon as Jeanine knew it was there she really wanted to take a ride on it. well fast forward to the end of the day and Steve offered Jeanine an opportunity to ride the senior back to the trailer. heres the pics and videos from the 'adventure"..... just want to personally thank Steve for really making her day, it wasnt a perfect trip back to the trailer but she enjoyed every minute of it. i went along for the ride on my 1057 holding the phone to catch the event as it happened...... "hey, i want one of these"..... thats Steve holding the rope up for Jeanine to drive under...... heres some videos...... some of them all you can here is my 1057s kohler, i apologize to those that only wanted to hear the senior....... and one pic of one of the 'pitstops' along the way.....

Lane, You mentioned Earl...and on a previous post I mentioned that I sold a tractor (1057) years ago to a guy in jacksonville who later put a hit and miss engine on it. Wanna make a guess who that guy was? I wonder if he still has it. I saw his grader years ago and still remember it distinctly. Neat guy and I'm pleased to know he's still doing well. Steve

Thanks to everyone that posted the pics. I'd post some of mine, but I think everything has been covered pretty well already. There were quite a few very nice tractors there. I enjoyed getting to meet dclarke and Martin, and see a few of the other guys in person. I would have liked to meet more of you guys, but we chickened out when it looked like the rain was rolling in and loaded up. The family had a really good time at the show, and would have been willing to stay longer if it hadn't been for the weather. It shouldn't be too hard of a sell to go back down next year. Dave

I had a bunch of my WH's out and about last weekend. I brought out 14 tractors this time around and my buddy had 7 there too! Makes a nice pile for folks to look at and remember the WH's they had back in the old days! Lots of good stories get told at these shows. The rain dampened the fun on Saturday and it was quite muddy, but it cleared up around noon and Sunday was a great day all around. Thanks to qd-16 for coming down and checking out my collection. He wanted to scope out some of my RJ35's for comparison on his RJ35 he is working on, thanks for coming down!

My brother David and I had the best time at the Prairieland Heritage Museum Show held in Jacksonville, Illinois this weekend. We were amazed at the number and full variety of Wheel Horse tractors, attachments and Red Square members that attended and made this a great event ! The designation of the Wheel Horse as the garden tractor of the year brought folks for hundreds of miles -especially from Minnesota, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana! I have photos from three different cameras and I am posting a few for all to see. The two highlights of the show for me were the Minnesota Red Square Members, Joe Nelson , Jason Schahl, Terry Mooney they came a great distance and brought some great Wheel Horse tractors! The second thing that was great to me was meeting 90 year old Earl L. McEvers of Whitehall, Illinois who came and sat with the Wheel Horse folks for half of the day on Friday and conversed with everyone he could. He is a Wheel Horse fan (and Cub Cadet and hit and miss engines) and he was involved with the early stages of setting up the Prairieland Heritage Museum in Jacksonville, Illinois 45 years ago. He came to the show on Friday because Wheel Horse was designated tractor of the year. I will have another post on Earl's hit and miss road grade with some photos of a really interesting piece of machinery he made. Now for the photos: IMG_3455.MOV

Looks like a red wheel horse Jason mask from friday the 13th

Hey Yo!!! This very mediocre Iowa team shut down that very good high scoring offense to less than a 170 yds. There average before this game was 282 yds rushing. They had 30 yds on 27 carries. Iowa has had a rough time the last year but if you watched I do believe you watched a team really start to believe in themselves. Defense was already tough but they stepped right up from the git go. QB did an awesome job as well. The Hawkeyes had a total offense of over 460 yds. I do believe they going to break some hearts as they did Saturday. You got it, I'll take the Iowa Hawkeyes over Michigan State any day of the week!!!! As always, Go Hawkeyes!!!!!

Onan engine service manual 1993 tractor manual 1997 tractor manual Garry

Nice........... what years were they made ?

Can you post a close up of the Racing Stripe on the hood? It looks very close to the Bronco hood stripe. Nice!

So Martin...she's on her way to the pinnacle of collecting?

Man, that is badass!! GREAT find!

Schhhweet! I was thinkin'...probably kinda hard to find one of those.

I think it's badass! Hope we get some snow picts this year. No windscreen huh?

first of all want to thank Steve (wh500special) for making Jeanine's day yesterday. she really wants a senior now and i guess were talking about doing something about it. because im a cheapskate and dont want to spend big money looking for one, theres going to be some improvising here and there. thats all im going to say for now. i really liked the lever steer too steve! was great meeting some more members face to face this weekend, talked with some of you before on here, but nice to put a name to a conversation or three, so to speak. wish id had more time and less distractions yesterday to talk more with some of you.... same goes for looking at the tractors. the turnout for the weekend as far as wheelhorse goes was amazing, i think i heard 53 tractors mentioned from somebody. i think the red garden tractors got a lot of attention from others over the weekend and i heard many great comments and compliments on the machinery from others. when you consider wheelhorse was virtually nonexistent three years ago at jacksonville this is quite an achievement...... heres my pics from the show. fridays 'group' pic... dinner at the local mexican restaurant, mmmm, nice food and tasty margaritas!

Safari is a kind of strange name for a snowmobile - isn't it? Still very cool regardless. Tim

Holding the throttle wide open may be normal. When it starts the governor will close it. Better adjust the governor arm to make sure. This is done with the engine not running. Manually move the throttle plate from idle postion to wide open throttle. As you do this note which way the governor shaft turns and mark that down on paper. Clockwise or counter-clockwise Now loosen the bolt that clamps the governor arm to the shaft enough that the arm will rotate on the shaft. Move the carb throttle to wide open position and hold it there. May need help or a strong elastic. Now go to the governor shaft and rotate it in the same direction that you marked down as far as it will go. Just light pressure and you will feel it stop. Now tighten the clamp bolt enough that the arm does not rotate on the shaft. This should be done any time a carb or governor arm has been removed. Garry

I like all the WH hoods but, the black doesn't appeal to me at all. My oldest (presently), Grandsons and I prefer the '68 and '73 "No Name" styling. The '68 Raider 12 is a favorite! Boys love the muffler stack. Duh!

Nah, gotta be the early square hoods: As for the 3/4/500 Series hoods, they look better with the little dashboard sticking up at the rear (516, 518, 520).

My friend Austyn (WH-AG) informed me the other night that his dad's auction had two non-running Wheel Horses in today's sale. I couldn't be there, so Austyn bid for me. He got both C-120 Automatics for a total of $80.00 for the pair. Granted one doesn't have an engine, but nonetheless, it looks like a pretty good deal. Picking them up tomorrow.

I like the late 60's era Charger/Raider hoods with the vertical center piece....narrow at the base makes the front stance look wider.... Don't know why this pic looks stretched....

Any wheel horse hood is appealing to me especially the maroon stripe 500 series hoods. I would have to say from my point of view Wheel Horse had better looking hoods than the Cub Cadets. Cub Cadets are great machines but their hoods look a little weird to me. This hood looks like a big nose to me. The 520H hood with engine exposed has a lot more sex appeal to me.

I took the belt cover off last night and found that the parking lever was not going down all the way when the cover was installed. The dipstick also revealed that the transmission was a quart low. So I topped off the oil and started the engine with rear wheels off the ground. Engaging the speed control lever made the wheels turn. So I lowered the jack, and hopped onto the fender pan (no seat), put in in forwards and took off. I almost slid right off the back. No slippage at all in forward or reverse. Seems very strong. Only problem is, no parking pawl engagement. I guess it's broken off inside. So my question is, do I attempt to repair it, or just carry a chock around with me when I park?

Spent another few hours this afternoon chopping into 3/8 RSJ... The result now being the front pivot bearing that provides articulation. An hour with a 31mm and 51mm hole saws was worth it! I'm now on all fours, still need the cradle completing to hold the rear transmission. Cheeky shot showing the dual articulation

Ok, been busy with work and all, my pulling tractor, and other projects I am working on. So I have not had time to reply to some of the questions that were asked. I apologize. So, here goes... The new front tires on my 552 I purchased about about a year ago from M.E. Miller Tire off of ebay. They are Firestone Turf Guides. Not sure if Miller still sells them... did not see them on their web site the other day. The tread is quite similar to the original tires that were on the 552 tractor. I liked the fact that they were Firestone branded and that's why I bought them because my dad liked Firestone tires. He even had one of those Firestone rubber tire ash trays that he always kept near his seat at the dinner table. The lift lever was finally disassembled with torch heat and a heavy duty press which I don't have in my garage. Fred did say that the shaft was swelled from the end down about an inch or so... probably from me pounding on the end of the shaft trying to get it pushed out of the sleeve. I think I understand that instead of twisting the shaft loose to get it out, by pounding on the end I was probably making the fit of the shaft in the sleeve more and more a tighter press fit. So, the more I tried to pound or push it out, I was only making it tighter. I did not ask if I could go through their bone yard to look for any old Wheel Horse tractors. I will have to do that next time I get down there. Wheel prep and paint... sandblasting, a lot of hand sanding to smooth out rough spots, Rust-o-leum spray bomb primer and paint. I chose to use Rust-o-eum spray cans instead of a professional automotive paint job due to relatively low cost of spray cans at the local Wal-mart stores. I am quite comfortable and adept at using spray cans I have spray bombed lots of other projects all my life including spray painting those plastic models cars when I was a lot younger than I am today. I also use one of those squeeze trigger handle attachments that you can place on the top of spray cans, so it kind of feels like I am using a "professional" sprayer. I find using spray cans can do a really nice job if the spray technique is done properly... start and end the sweeps off of the parts being painted and allow several light coats to dry some between each coat instead of spaying on one heavy coat that has the chance to cause runs. Takes some time and lots of patience but I am proof that a spray bomb paint job can be done successfully. Besides, as long as my paint job looks good to me and lasts maybe another 20-30 years, I will be pleased. And finally, I can only hope my dad would be proud of my restoration project. He passed away 20 years ago and I still miss him dearly. I do know he would probably smile some but wouldn't have much to say as he always was. When I was about 15-16 years old, he had a 1940 Dodge pick up truck that we used on the farm I grew up on. The old truck was pretty beat up but one day I asked him if I could have it and fix it up. He told me not to waste my money on the truck. He said it was junk and he wouldn't let me have it. Today, I now wish I would have stolen that old truck or taken it anyway. Sometimes, when I just sit down and look at his old Wheel Horse now and think about how beat up it was a couple years ago when I got it, I wonder if he would kick my ass for putting lots of my time and money into fixing it up. But I can honestly say that even though I have spent a lot of time and money in this project and eventually the resale value will ever only be several hundred dollars, this tractor is worth a fortune to me personally. They say everything has a price, however I wouldn't ever sell this tractor for any obscene offer... at least while I am alive to enjoy it. Thanks to all you RedSquare members here on this fantastic Wheel Horse forum. I enjoy reading about your projects as well and will promise to keep you informed as I bring my dad's 1962 552 WH tractor back to its second life. Still can't wait for the day I saddle up and ride her again.